In 1868, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

In 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

In 1937, Dr. Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont who’d invented nylon, received a patent for the synthetic fiber.

In 1959, Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month and a-half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1961, the United States launched the Explorer 9 satellite.

In 1968, the nation’s first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Alabama.

In 1977, Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.

In 1988, seven people were shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, California, by a man obsessed with a co-worker who was wounded in the attack. (The gunman, Richard Farley, is on death row.)

In 1994, more than 200 people were killed when a powerful earthquake shook Indonesia’s Sumatra island.

In 1998, a China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board, plus six on the ground.

Ten years ago: The NHL canceled what was left of its decimated schedule after a round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap — the flash-point issue that had led to a lockout. Israel’s parliament gave the final approval to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.

Five years ago: Officials reported the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 commander, by a joint CIA and Pakistani team. (Baradar was set free by Pakistan in Sept. 2013 in hopes he could help jumpstart Afghanistan’s peace process.) President Barack Obama announced more than $8 billion in new federal loan guarantees to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia.

One year ago: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to Indonesia, called climate change perhaps the “most fearsome” destructive weapon and mocked those who denied its existence or questioned its causes, comparing them to people who insist the earth is flat. Carmelo Anthony made an All-Star record eight 3-pointers and scored 30 points, and the Eastern Conference overcame 38-point efforts by Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin for a 163-155 win. At the Sochi Games, Kjetil Jansrud won the fourth straight Olympic super-G gold medal for Norway; Andrew Weibrecht of the United States wound up second while American teammate Bode Miller and Jan Hudec of Canada tied for third. (Miller, at 36, became the oldest ever Olympic Alpine medalist.)